9.  On 16 September 1994 the Wałbrzych District Prosecutor (Prokurator Rejonowy) charged the applicant with receiving a bribe and detained him on remand in view of the reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offence in question. On the same day the prosecutor confronted the applicant with his co-suspect who had offered him a bribe, and ordered a search of the applicant’s home. On 28 September 1994, on an appeal filed by the applicant, the Wałbrzych Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) quashed the detention order and released him under police supervision.
10.  On 10 February 1995 the Wałbrzych District Prosecutor lodged a bill of indictment with the Wałbrzych Regional Court. The indictment comprised twelve counts charging seven co-defendants. Two of the applicant’s co-defendants were indicted on charges of an attempt to traffic in women.
11.  Subsequently, on an unknown date, the Wałbrzych Regional Court appointed a defence counsel for the applicant.
12.  The trial ended on 15 April 1996. The applicant was convicted as charged and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment suspended for two years and a fine. The Regional Court exempted the applicant from paying the costs of the proceedings and court fees at first instance. It ordered the State Treasury (Skarb Państwa) to cover the legal fees involved in his defence by the officially-appointed lawyer.
13.  On 24 June 1996 the applicant’s lawyer filed an appeal with the Wrocław Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny). The Regional Prosecutor lodged his appeal at about the same time. The applicant filed a memorandum and produced documents in support of his arguments on 27 September 1996.
14.  Later, the Wrocław Court of Appeal appointed a new defence counsel to assist the applicant in the appellate proceedings.
15.  On 10 October 1996 the Wrocław Court of Appeal heard the appeals. Both the applicant and his officially-appointed lawyer were present. The applicant asked the court to read out all the records of evidence heard from him during the first instance proceedings. The court declined to do so, pointing out that the appellate hearing was limited to the questions of fact and law which had been put forward by the parties in their appeals and oral pleadings. It found it unnecessary to read the voluminous records of the oral evidence taken from the applicant.
16.  On the same day the Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance judgment. It levied on the applicant a court fee of 65.00 Polish zlotys [approx. 130 FRF] for examining his appeal and ordered him to pay 50.96 Polish zlotys [approx. 100 FRF] as the costs of the appellate proceedings. The court ordered that the costs involved in the applicant’s defence in the appeal proceedings be borne by the State Treasury.
17.  On 12 October 1996 the applicant lodged a notice of cassation appeal with the Wrocław Court of Appeal and asked it to serve on him the written reasons for its judgment. He also asked the Court of Appeal to appoint a new lawyer to assist him in the preparation of his cassation appeal. The relevant part of the application read:
“The appeal proceedings were of a fictitious nature ... [which was shown] by the time foreseen by the Court of Appeal for dealing with [my] appeal. [That] court foresaw only 15 minutes ... The appellate hearing was to start at 9.00 a.m. and the next case was to be heard at 9.15 a.m. ... In addition, as I learnt on 11 October this year, the Court of Appeal had replaced my previous defence counsel by someone else ... who – probably – did not know the case. ...
Article 464 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that a cassation appeal must be filed and signed by an advocate. Since the Court of Appeal deprived me of my [previous] officially-appointed lawyer, it should appoint another counsel for me. I therefore ask the court to appoint me such a lawyer and order him to file a cassation appeal on my behalf, in particular on the grounds mentioned in my pleading of 14 June 1996 and on other grounds – such as breaches of the law committed by the Court of Appeal – which I will later specify in my own separate cassation appeal. ...”
18.  On 9 December 1996 the written reasons for the judgment of the Wrocław Court of Appeal were served on the applicant. On that date the time-limit of thirty days for lodging a cassation appeal began to run (see also paragraph 32 below).
19.  On 23 December 1996 the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s request for free legal assistance in cassation proceedings. The court considered that the applicant had failed to prove that he could not afford such assistance. The relevant decision read:
“In his application, received at the Court of Appeal’s registry on 15 October 1996, the applicant asked this Court to appoint a lawyer to assist him in filing a cassation appeal against the judgment of the Wrocław Court of Appeal of 10 October 1996.
The circumstances on which the applicant relies cannot be considered as a basis for a finding that his family and financial situation, and his income, make it impossible for him to pay costs involved in appointing a lawyer of his own choice in order to have a cassation appeal filed. That [view] is based on the post previously held by the applicant and the income that he received from his employment.
Instruction: this decision – refusing an application for appointing a lawyer to assist in filing a cassation appeal – cannot be appealed against.”
That decision was served on the applicant on 31 December 1996.
The time-limit for lodging a cassation appeal expired on 9 January 1997.
20.  In the meantime, on 3 January 1997, despite the court’s instruction to the contrary, the applicant had appealed to the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) against the refusal to grant him legal assistance. He lodged the appeal through the Wrocław Court of Appeal.
21.  By an order made on 15 January 1997, the President of the Court of Appeal refused to proceed with the appeal because it was inadmissible in law. The applicant appealed to the Supreme Court, which, on 28 February 1997, upheld the contested order.